


But First, We Talk

by BecauseFandomsAreBetter



Series: Tumblr Headcanons [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Crushes, Fluff, M/M, Teenlock, Tumblr Prompt, rugby!john
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 11:41:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4303563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BecauseFandomsAreBetter/pseuds/BecauseFandomsAreBetter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loosely based on this tumblr prompt: "John and Sherlock crushing on each other but refuse to say anything to the other. John’s rugby friends decide to lock him in a room with Sherlock so that they have no choice but to talk. They end up going to dinner that night."</p>
            </blockquote>





	But First, We Talk

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again!  
> So I decided to do my best to try and write as many of highfunctioninggaybaby's headcanons as I could, and make it a series!  
> This ficlet is based off the first headcanon in her list, although they ended up going for coffee and not to dinner. But details. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> (Link to tumblr post: http://highfunctioninggaybaby.tumblr.com/post/104362497804/some-teenlock-before-you-go-john-and-sherlock)

“So what’s the update on Sherlock today Captain?” Mike Stamford shouted as he walked into the locker room. John rolled his eyes at his friend and ignored the question. Bill Murray, his locker mate, grinned and nudged him with his shoulder.

“Yeah John, what’s new? I haven’t heard you obsess- sorry, talk about him yet today.”

“Shut up, Murray.” Greg’s voice chimed in from behind them. “He doesn’t always have to talk to us about Sherlock.”

“Exactly. Thank you Greg!” John said, somewhat relieved. Greg peeked his head around the corner with a sly grin.

“Yeah- we all know John doesn’t like to share his boyfriends.” Greg ducked his head back around the lockers with a laugh before John’s bag could hit him.   
“I never should’ve told you lot about this. I swear, you’re worse than my mum!” John grumbled, slamming his locker closed.

“We’re the Kingsbury rugby team, John. We’re worse than everyone’s mum!” Mike declared.

“Alright, alright. Hurry up you lot. If you’re not all out in ten minutes, you’ll be running extra laps around the field.” John threatened good-naturedly as he prepared to leave the locker room. His words were met with a chorus of groans from the team, and the few boys who had just walked in hurried to get changed.

“But seriously John. Is something going on with Sherlock? I’ve never heard you go a whole day without mentioning some amazing new deduction he made.” Greg Lestrade was arguably John’s best friend, excluding Sherlock of course, and the only person whom John could never really get annoyed with. John sighed.

“It’s nothing, really. I’m just getting a bit tired of this whole...thing. Whatever the hell it is.”

“Well then why don’t you say anything mate?” Greg asked as they walked out to the rugby field. “God knows you two have been dragging this out long enough.”

“It’s not that easy Greg,” John said frustratedly. “Sherlock isn’t- he’s different. You’ve heard him, he’s always saying how he’s “married to his work” or whatever. I can’t just go up and ask him out for a coffee, he’d laugh in my face.”

“You don’t know that John.”

John shook his head stubbornly. “But I don’t know for certain that he’d respond positively either. Besides, he probably doesn’t feel the same way and I’m not willing to risk our friendship over some stupid crush.” John ran ahead of Greg, effectively ending their conversation. Greg shook his head at his friend’s retreating figure. “These boys, I swear.” he muttered before jogging forward to help set-up the team exercises.

~

“Why won’t you just speak to him?” Molly ran to catch up to Sherlock as he made his way out of class and to his locker.

“Why won’t you leave me alone?” he said with clear annoyance. “I said I won’t, and that’s that.”

“But Sherlock, you’ve been crushing on John since we were twelve years old! If you’re still holding a torch for him, you clearly believe he might feel something back.” Molly leaned against the wall, watching Sherlock shove things haphazardly into his locker. “What are you so scared of?” she asked softly. Sherlock slammed his locker closed and turned to face her.

“What am I so scared of? What do you think Molly?” he hissed. “John is my best friend. I’ve no reason to believe that he cares for me as anything other than a friend, other than false hopes, and I have no idea how he’d react to the news that I li- think of him in any other way. And he’s the only person I’ve ever met who has taken the time to understand me, who’s shown genuine interest in my deductions and work. It’s not as if I can just replace him if he decides he doesn’t want to be friends with me any more. I mean-” Sherlock opened his arms wide, gesturing to the crowds of laughing students around them. “I’m not exactly Mr. Popular around here.”

Molly frowned up at her friend. “Sherlock you’ve known John for years. Do you really think he’d just up and leave because of how you feel?”

Sherlock sighed and his shoulders dropped. “No.” he whispered finally. “I don’t, not really.” he looked back up at Molly with a suddenly helpless expression. “But I can’t risk being alone again.” Molly sighed in resignation and dropped the subject.

~

Molly met up with Greg after school that day to go to lunch. “How was rugby practice?” Molly asked, linking her arm in her boyfriend’s.

“It went well. John’s been pushing us harder than normal because of our upcoming match, so we’re having extra practices all week.” Molly winced in sympathy.

“Actually, speaking of John, can we talk about this Sherlock situation?” Greg turned his head to look at her.

“Have you noticed it too?”

“Greg, the whole bloody rugby team has noticed it. The two of them are just too stubborn to talk to each other about it.” Molly said, rolling her eyes.

Greg sighed.“I know. It was funny at first, but not it’s just getting depressing. And they won’t stop talking about each other either! It’s like they’re trying to provoke us.”

Molly laughed at the exasperation in Greg’s voice, then paused.

“Well maybe we should help them along a little.”  
Greg stopped walking abruptly.“You mean...give them a little...push?”

Molly smirked up at him.“Exactly.” An evil smile spread slowly across Greg’s face.

“I’ve got just the thing.”

~

“Hey John, can you help me with something here?” It was the end of the school day, and John was just packing up his bag when Mike called him over. “What’s up?” he asked walking over to the empty classroom Mike was standing by.

“I left my chemistry notes in Jones’ classroom. Can you get them for me?”  
John raised an eyebrow. “Why can’t you just get them yourself?”  
“I left my notes in the cabinet, and Jones is still pissed at me for that note passing stunt I pulled a few days ago. I don’t want her to catch me rifling through the shelves.”

John rolled his eyes. “Sure, or maybe you’re just too scared of her to go into her room.”

“I- yes, sure. That’s exactly why.” Mike raised his hands and lifted his shoulders. “You got me. So can you please go get them for me? I need those notes for that test next week.”

John squinted at his friend suspiciously; Mike wasn’t one to easily admit fear, so his quick confession put him on edge immediately.

“All right...I’ll go. But you owe me.” Mike nodded with a look of relief.

“Thanks Mate. You’re the best.” John stared hard at Mike as he walked into the classroom, still  suspicious. He looked around the dark room, anticipating a prank or some joke from his rugby team. “Oh, and John?” John turned around to see Mike grinning sheepishly at him, with his hand on the door. “Sorry.” and with that Mike slammed the door shut.

“Wha- MIKE!” John darted back to the door, trying to turn the now locked handle. Greg’s head suddenly appeared in the little glass window in the middle of the door.

“Hey John!” he grinned cheerily at his fuming captain. “What’s up?”

“Greg you ass, let me out of here!” Greg shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m afraid I don’t have the key, my dear old friend. But we shall go off and find it, shan’t we Mike?” Mike was laughing so hard at this point that he could barely muster a nod.

“Why yes, Gregory, I think-I think that is a splendid idea.” John glared furiously at his two supposed friends through the glass. “When I get out of here, you two are dead!”

Greg pretended to look mortally offended. “Why- We’re only trying to help you, aren’t we Mike?” Mike nodded, giving Greg a sad look.

“This is what our friendship gets us, Greg. Hatred.” he shook his head mournfully. “Well one of us was going to wait here with you- to keep you company while you’re locked in this cold...dark room.” Mike straightened up, biting his lips to hold back a smile. “But not that you’ve so mortally offended us, I think it’s better that both of us go and look for the keys. Right Greg?” Greg nodded thoughtfully. “Quite right. That way we can get you out of here faster. C’mon Mike, let’s go find the key to set John free!” Greg grinned and winked cheekily at John before grabbing Mike and leaving the limited field of view that the window allowed John. “MIKE! GREG! COME BACK HERE NOW-ugh the bastards!” John punched the door angrily.

“I don’t think punching the door is going to help your situation.” a voice spoke behind him, and John jumped around with a high-pitched scream. “FUC- Sherlock!” John collapsed against the door, hand on his chest, to see his best friend leaning against the wall in the corner with a bemused expression.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” Sherlock pushed off the wall and walked towards John. “It would appear that our friends have locked us in here together.” he said, gesturing to the room.

“What? Why?” John said, staring at Sherlock with confusion. Sherlock just raised an eyebrow at him. “How would I know? I can’t fathom what goes on in the minds of those people. Although I do think that they might’ve genuinely misplaced that key.”

“I- seriously?” John groaned, and rested his head against the wooden surface.

“I fucking hate those two, I swear.”

“And Molly,” Sherlock chimed in helpfully. “She’s the one who got me in here.”

“And Molly.” John agreed with a sigh. He slid down the door till he was sitting with his knees up, and then looked up at Sherlock expectantly.

“Well? Are you gonna keep standing there, or are you gonna join me?”

~

Sherlock spent the first ten minutes of their confinement just staring at John, trying to figure out what was running through his friend’s head. The blonde man had also been silent, staring at his hands in his lap as if they held the answer to their problems. Sherlock opened his mouth to say something, then hesitated. He still wasn’t sure if he wanted to go down this path, especially as John continued to be frustratingly unreadable. He was still contemplating how to go about this when the decision was made for him by John.

“So...How was your day?” John was looking at him with a hint of a smile.

“Oh good. Except for the part when I, y’know, was tricked into hiding in a dark classroom for fifteen minutes, before being locked into said classroom by some rugby players who think they’re far cleverer than they really are.” Sherlock said with an expression of nonchalance. John laughed, and shook his head.

“How long do you think they’re going to keep us in here?”

Sherlock shrugged. “Probably until they think we’ve had enough time to talk. Although the school does close in about an hour, so they’ll probably have to let us out then.” John shook his head despairingly.

“No good. There’s a drama production or some such today, so the school will be open later than usual.” Sherlock made a face. “Ugh. I bloody hate the drama club.”

“Tell me about it.” Their quiet laughter filled the dark room for a few moments, before it faded back to silence.

“Sherlock-” John bit his lip, hesitating. “I think I know why they locked us in here. I mean, beyond the obvious prank potential.” Sherlock closed his eyes. This was it, the conversation he’d work to avoid for years. He had never hated Molly more than right at that moment.

He didn’t want to hear John’s rejection. He couldn’t.

“John please, don’t...just don’t.”

“Sherlock?” Sherlock held his hands up in a gesture of defence.

“I mean it. I understand that you can’t- and it’s fine, really. I just don’t want me to be the thing to  ruin our friendship.

“Sherlock, what are you talking about?”

“Please John, don’t act naive it doesn’t suit you.”

“Sherlock, I genuinely have no bloody idea what you’re saying. Why would you ruin our friendship?”

“Because of how I- my feelings for you.” John stared at him with his mouth slightly open.

“I know it’s embarrassing for you and all, but I’d really appreciate it if you could just pretend this never happened, and-”

“Woah, Sherlock, hold up. Why would I be embarrassed by you?” John looked genuinely confused as to why he would think that. Sherlock sighed.

“Because you don’t feel the same way.” John frowned.

“When did I say that?” Sherlock stared at him.

“You didn’t but, I just assumed-”

“Why would you assume that I wouldn’t like you?”

“Well because I’m not normal. And people like you don’t go out with people like me.” Sherlock’s confidence faded as he watched John’s expression change from perplexed to annoyed.

“What do you mean “people like you? Sherlock, you’re my best friend.”

“Yeah, but that’s not the same as being- You’re popular! And I’m just the social reject everyone makes fun of behind their hands. If you were with me, it’d just drag you down in the eyes of our peers.” Sherlock said angrily, turning away from John.

“Why does that matter? If I let things like popularity affect my friendships, then by your own logic I wouldn’t have been friends with you all these years.”  
John crawled awkwardly over to where Sherlock was curled up, and put his hand on the brunette’s shoulder. “Sherlock, do you really think that little of me?” he sounded almost hurt, but Sherlock still couldn’t let it go. 

“It doesn’t matter,” he mumbled, shaking off John’s hand. “You’re not gay anyways.”

“No, I’m not.” agreed John, and Sherlock felt his heart clench painfully.

“See, I told you, it doesn’t matter anyways, we can just forget this ever happened and-”

“Sherlock, shut up. I’m not gay, I’m bisexual.” Sherlock froze.

“And...I do have feelings for you. God, do I have feelings for you. I’ve been in love with you since we were fourteen.” Sherlock sucked in a sharp breath, hardly daring to move.

“And I don’t care about what people say,” John carried on with a hint of worry when there was no reaction. “You’re brilliant, and mad, and an absolute genius, and you’re the probably most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.” Sherlock blushed and looked down.

“Beautiful John? Please, I’m not a girl.” his tone was contradicted by the smile on his face.

“Well it’s true. I mean, have you seen your eyelashes? You could be in a mascara ad!” John exclaimed, slightly relieved. Sherlock let out a surprised bark of laughter.

“A mascara ad? Really?” he turned back around to look over his shoulder at John.

“Yeah well.” John rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “But in all honesty, Sherlock, I was kind of thinking the same way about you. That’s why I didn’t tell you sooner, I thought you were “married to your work” and all.” he made quotation marks with his fingers at the words.

“I said that five years ago John. I didn’t like anyone back then!”

“Yes, well you can’t blame me for thinking you’re out of my league! With your scarf, and your hair, and those stupid eyelashes.” John grumbled, gesturing at Sherlock’s face.

“Well I guess we were both wrong then.” Sherlock said, suddenly shy. John blushed lightly.

“Yeah, I guess so.” They glanced at each other and burst into laughter.

“God, I never thought it would be this awkward!” John said through his giggles.

“Well it’s your fault for being so-” Sherlock waved his hands weakly towards John’s general position. “That’s my Sherlock,” John said fondly “Always so articulate.”

“Do you suppose they’ll let us out now?” Sherlock asked, glancing at the still locked door.

“I dunno. How would they know we’ve spoken?”  

Sherlock sighed deeply. “They didn’t plan this out very well, did they?” John laughed again, and shook his head.“They meant well. I’m sure they were just sick to death of me talking about you twenty-four/seven.” Sherlock raised his eyebrows curiously at the blonde.

“Talking about me? Whatever did you say, John?” John grinned mischievously.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, causing them to dissolve back into giggles.

“But seriously,” Sherlock gasped when they’d finally calmed down “How are we going to get out of here? No offence to Greg and Mike, but I’d rather not sit around while they figure out how to get us out of here.”

“Agreed. Maybe we could pick the lock?”

“That would be a good idea, if this door could be unlocked from the inside. But it only locks from the outside.”

“Ugh. Well maybe…” John sat back on his arms and scanned the room, searching for possible escape routes.

“John. Look.” Sherlock poked John’s side and pointed to a row of windows at the other side of the room. “What do you say?” he asked with a grin. “Want to help me break out of here?”

~

*Half-an-hour later*

“John! Johnny boy, we found the key!” Greg grinned at Mike and waved the hand holding the key in front of the classroom door’s window.

“Did you and Sherlock make nice yet?” Mike called “We can let you out if you did!” There was no response from the room, and the two boys looked at each other. “Um...John?” Mike peered through the frosty glass, but saw nothing. “Greg, I can’t see them.”

“Wait, what?” Greg nudged Mike aside and peered in besides him. “Well they have to be in there, they can’t have gone anywhere else.” he shook his head bemusedly.

“Maybe they’re just hiding by the door to scare us or something. John’s probably furious.”

“Yeah- here move aside, let me open the door.” Mike obliged and Greg jostled the key into the lock. “John, we’re coming in!” he sang “Are you two decent?” Greg opened the door with a wide grin- and prompt froze.

“What is it? Are they hiding?” Mike stuck his head into the room over Greg’s shoulder. “Where are they?” Greg pointed to the corner of the room with his mouth open. Mike looked in the direction of Greg’s finger and saw a row of windows.

One of which was wide open.

“They...they jumped out the window.” Greg said in disbelief. “They- Mike, you can’t- they jumped out the window! MIKE shut up!” Greg continued to shout over the sound of Mike’s raucous laughter.

~

*fifteen minutes previous*

Seven paperclips and three of Professor Jones’ best ballpoint pens later, John and Sherlock were jumping out of the open window.

“Seriously, who made the rule that all windows have to be locked?” grumbled John as he dusted himself off.

“It was something about student safety or something, I don’t know.” Sherlock straightened up and turned to John with a smile. “But we’re out.” John grinned back and nudged Sherlock’s shoulder.

“Indeed. And now that we’re out of there, what shall we do with all this freedom?”

“Well...we could goandgetacoffee.” Sherlock mumbled.

“What was that? Sorry, I couldn’t hear you over all this glorious freedom.” John said. Sherlock just rolled his eyes at John’s theatrics.

“I said, we could go and get a coffee. I know a nice place nearby that sells cheap pastries.” he repeated, still barely loud enough to hear. John looked up at Sherlock, affection softening his expression. On an impulse, he reached up and rested his hand gently on the taller man’s cheek. Sherlock’s eyes widened in surprise, but he followed willingly when John guided his head down. Their eyes fluttered closed as their lips touched lightly in a chaste, but long, first kiss.

Eyes still slightly shut, John drew back with a smile on his face.

“Sounds perfect.”

~

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought in the comments!
> 
> Constructive criticism is always welcome ^_^ 
> 
> \- Nadia


End file.
